Longlist for the 2018 Man Booker Prize Announced

The Longlist for the 2018 Man Booker Prize has been announced! Big publishers dominate (aside from my fave indie, Serpent’s Tail) but the diverse range of genres and writers on the list is very exciting.

Stand outs include Sabrinaby Nick Drnaso, the first graphic novel to ever be longlisted. Washington Blackis the long awaited third novel from Canadian author Esi Edugyan (her last novel was published in 2011). Michael Ondaatje is nominated for Warlight, a wartime novel set in London during the Blitz. And crime writer Belinda Bauer finally gets an overdue nomination for Snap.

“Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the times, there were many dystopian fictions on our bookshelf – and many novels we found inspirational as well as disturbing. Some of those we have chosen for this longlist feel urgent and topical, others might have been admired and enjoyed in any year. All of these books – which take in slavery, ecology, missing persons, inner-city violence, young love, prisons, trauma, race – capture something about a world on the brink.” – Kwame Anthony Appiah, chair of the 2018 judges.

The other judges are Val McDermid, Leo Robson, Jacqueline Rose, and Leanne Shapton.